All-Time Draft #12, Part VI

From a hockey history standpoint, it's tarnishing for the reputation of the ATD. It doesn't personally affect me, obviously, but I come at the ATD from the perspective of wanting to learn more about the history of the game. For someone to take Wade Belak in this thing as a joke, it's like "hey, to hell with all that all time greatness stuff!". Perhaps I came off as abrasive with my earlier comment, but I do take this somewhat seriously in the interest of learning about the game.

I don't think of it like that. Wade Belak is well-established as a sort of inside joke among ATD members. With Evil's pick it canonizes it as such. I'll admit I actually laughed when Belak was selected. To satisfy everyone, Evil could drop him during the add/drop period, but I don't feel he has too.

Defenceman Marty Burke played nearly 500 games in the 1920s and '30s. He was adept at taking opposition forwards out of the play and feeding the puck up to his forwards. He could also play a nastier brand of hockey if matters on the ice required it.

The Toronto native played with the St. Mary's junior and senior squads before spending two years with the Stratford Indians of the OHA senior league. After playing the 1926-27 season with the Port Arthur Ports, Burke joined the Montreal Canadiens for eleven games then was loaned to the Pittsburgh Pirates for the remainder of the schedule. He returned to Montreal the next year and remained a member of their defensive brigade for nearly five years. He was an integral part of the club that won consecutive Stanley Cups in 1930 and 1931.

Ottawa also adds one of the greatest from 1906 until a tragic career-crippling off-ice injury in 1911, winning championships at every level as a top-line producer, right winger Bruce Ridpath

Quote:

He turned professional in 1906 with the Toronto team, playing in eight games, scoring 17 goals in their exhibition schedule. He played three seasons for the Torontos, helping the team to win the 1908 league title and scored a goal in a 6-4 loss to the Montreal Wanderers in a one-game Stanley Cup challenge. On 1909-01-30, he scored seven goals in one game as Toronto defeated Brantford 15-10. Later that season, he played for Cobalt in the Temiskaming League that would form the foundation of the new National Hockey Association later that year.

Ridpath signed with the Ottawa Senators in 1909-10, playing in the NHA. He played on a forward line with Gordon Roberts and Marty Walsh and rover Bruce Stuart and later with the line of Walsh, Dubbie Kerr and Jack Darragh. In 1910–11, his most productive season, he scored 23 goals in 16 games and help Ottawa win the NHA final and the Stanley Cup. Later that year he was injured in a car accident.

Bouchard won 286 games with a 0.543 winning percentage despite never playing on strong teams, not an easy thing to do in the NHL of the '70s and '80s. He also performed very well compared to his backups - over his career, on average his GAA was 0.32 lower than his backup's, his winning percentage was 0.061 higher, and his save percentage was 0.010 higher.

Chris Phillips is a bit of a homer pick - he's my favourite NHL player. That said, I don't think he's out of place on a minor league squad, he's been one of the best defensive defencemen in the NHL since the lockout and has been the best defenceman on his team since Chara left.

Phillips is big, strong, and mobile, and can handle forwards with speed or size. Against the rush, he very rarely steps up for a hit, but is excellent at maintaining gap control without getting burned, closing the gap, and taking the puck away from the attacker.

Phillips is good at knowing when to stay in front of the net and when to go after the puck in the corner. He rarely gets caught in between, because when he goes for the puck, he goes hard. When he does go after the puck, he's excellent at using his size and strength to win the puck, brush off the attacker, and make a good first pass. In his younger days he was more of a "puck off the boards" type, but he's much more confident with the puck now and will very often carry the puck up ice until a pass opens up, using his strength to brush off opponents.

Phillips is conservative at jumping into the rush, but is effective when he does. While he never does anything fancy, he stays behind the puck, skates hard, and uses his size and strength almost like a running back hitting a hole, which is difficult to stop. He rarely turns the puck over and usually ends the play either by shooting on goal or dumping the puck behind the net, at which point he quickly returns to the blueline. Phillips is more likely to jump into the rush late in the game with the team down, and is famous among Ottawa fans for scoring big goals.

While Phillips is less noticeable than other defensive defencemen in the "hits and blocked shots" mould, he's very good at what he does, and very effective. Ottawa has leaned heavily on him ever since the lockout - in the first year he made up an uber-shutdown pairing with Chara, and since then he's led the pairing that logged heavy minutes against top lines and goes out for defensive zone faceoffs whenever possible. When his regular partner is out or they get split up, he often gets the "baby-sitting" duty playing with the rookie in the line-up, but still handling his regular shut-down duties.

If Phillips can play a few more years at his current level, I think he'll be an ATD regular. For now, I'm happy to have an excellent defensive defenceman and my favourite player on my minor league roster.

an arrogant opinion by someone who obviously has too much time on their hands.

If you didn't notice, GBC directed me to that MLD. I wasn't prowling around, looking for teams to trash. I wanted to see what the big deal was, considering GBC said your team should have "cakewalked the whole draft" and that's a pretty bold statement. I didn't see what the big deal was... sorry.

And knowing what we know now, there's no way that lineup beats pit. Not a chance. Hell, I look back to MLD8 and if I had those two teams I wouldn't have even had a clue who to vote for. Sorry for being so arrogant that I was able to state the obvious.

If you didn't notice, GBC directed me to that MLD. I wasn't prowling around, looking for teams to trash. I wanted to see what the big deal was, considering GBC said your team should have "cakewalked the whole draft" and that's a pretty bold statement. I didn't see what the big deal was... sorry.

And knowing what we know now, there's no way that lineup beats pit. Not a chance. Hell, I look back to MLD8 and if I had those two teams I wouldn't have even had a clue who to vote for. Sorry for being so arrogant that I was able to state the obvious.

I don't recall a post where GBC directed you to minor league draft #7.

In any event, your arrogance knows no bounds and now you have insulted every participant in that draft. That was in no way an obvious mismatch. I am getting very weary of your know-it-all attitude.

I don't recall a post where GBC directed you to minor league draft #7.

In any event, your arrogance knows no bounds and now you have insulted every participant in that draft. That was in no way an obvious mismatch. I am getting very weary of your know-it-all attitude.

Easy now, momma bear. No one's gonna take your title belt away.

Making a comment on how little we knew 3 years ago compared to now, I'm not sure many people would call that arrogance. The depth of knowledge all these great researchers have built up since then is huge, and it shows in the progression of the draft lists and the teams built, both at the ATD and MLD levels.

Comments like "get a life" are lame. Do you think the Belak pick bothers me so much that I go tell my wife about how it made me feel, and whine about it to all my work friends at lunch? It's a message board - a very small portion of my life. Within that very small portion of my life, yes, seeing Wade Belak taken as a joke is a major irritant. That doesn't make jarek, VI, EB or myself, people who need to get a life.

Comments like "get a life" are lame. Do you think the Belak pick bothers me so much that I go tell my wife about how it made me feel, and whine about it to all my work friends at lunch? It's a message board - a very small portion of my life. Within that very small portion of my life, yes, seeing Wade Belak taken as a joke is a major irritant. That doesn't make jarek, VI, EB or myself, people who need to get a life.

When it comes to this draft I think it probably does. The obsessive-compulsive, anal retentive view some have of this thing is by far the least enjoyable aspect of this thing. Hell, the only reason we have a random 6 player MLD team in addition to the three extras is to feed the obsessiveness of a handful of posters.

When it comes to this draft I think it probably does. The obsessive-compulsive, anal retentive view some have of this thing is by far the least enjoyable aspect of this thing. Hell, the only reason we have a random 6 player MLD team in addition to the three extras is to feed the obsessiveness of a handful of posters.

I joined this thing to learn more about the greats of history. The 6 extra rounds help that process along.

The extra 6 rounds was not my thing, don't "blame" that on me. I use the word "blame" in quotes because I don't think it was a bad idea at all; in fact, I rather like it. But I never asked for it or pushed for it.

These six rounds have gone extraordinarily well and I am very pleased with most of the picks made.

Guys, I'm calling a moratorium on this discussion. Unless someone actually has something constructive or new to add to the discussion. Right now, it's degenerated into mud-slinging, name-calling and arguing in circles. And it's getting way out of hand.

If Sather wants to pick a replacement for Belak, he can. If he doesn't, then he gets Belak. There isn't going to be enough support to force him to change his pick, at least judging by the reactions from the GMs who have voiced an opinion.

I'll be honest: when I saw the pick, I laughed. It's a joke pick, and if this was something serious or important, I might be upset. But it gets the same reaction from me as when somebody picks a last round pick in my fantasy pool farm draft. A chuckle at a wasted pick. Then I move on. And I beak off about it every chance I get in the future.

I don't mind the extra six spots. I think Ranford, Lefebvre, Ogrodnick and MacLean are good enough to be extras in the ATD. So I'm happy to pick them. And I really like Gagner. So welcome to the ATD, Dave. But you could see this coming a mile away. And it's not going to create interest in the MLD. It's going to be the same guys doing the MLD, as always.

Guys, I'm calling a moratorium on this discussion. Unless someone actually has something constructive or new to add to the discussion. Right now, it's degenerated into mud-slinging, name-calling and arguing in circles. And it's getting way out of hand.

If Sather wants to pick a replacement for Belak, he can. If he doesn't, then he gets Belak. There isn't going to be enough support to force him to change his pick, at least judging by the reactions from the GMs who have voiced an opinion.

I'll be honest: when I saw the pick, I laughed. It's a joke pick, and if this was something serious or important, I might be upset. But it gets the same reaction from me as when somebody picks a last round pick in my fantasy pool farm draft. A chuckle at a wasted pick. Then I move on. And I beak off about it every chance I get in the future.

Remember, this is just for fun.

At the end of the day, if he wants to keep the pick, it's fine. I voiced my opinion and I'm going to leave it at that. I am, however, going to take it into account in my voting, same with every other call-up squad. I am not going to just overlook these last 6 rounds.

Making a comment on how little we knew 3 years ago compared to now, I'm not sure many people would call that arrogance. The depth of knowledge all these great researchers have built up since then is huge, and it shows in the progression of the draft lists and the teams built, both at the ATD and MLD levels.

Can't take away what I didn't have. I was gone in the next round. Why don't you go back & critique that series also?